I've had a difficult time finding much information in English on the life of Asik Ali Izzet, which is frustrating considering how well-loved his poetry and music are in Turkey. You can, for example, find many contemporary Turkish recordings of songs composed by Asik Ali Izzet.

At a young age, Ali Izzet became an asik or ashik -- a wandering minstrel who travels throughout the country composing and singing songs, accompanied by the stringed saz. He was both a Sufi and a social activist. Although he didn't have much formal education, his work came to be widely appreciated in his lifetime and he published his poems in books and journals, and performed in many of the great halls of Turkey. Later in life he was persecuted for his leftist politics and he died in relative obscurity in Ankara in 1981. His songs and poetry, however, have enjoyed a revival and are widely appreciated today.